I happened to check an e-promotion regarding a fable. I wanted to subscribe a book for toddlers for three reasons: for a change, for relaxation (a child’s books are my sleeping pills) and for rekindling. I saw a book I wanted to check out because the lesson in it has jogged a lot of valuable memories.
The book is entitled “Three Hens and a Peacock”. The story is basically about three jealous hens and a visitor peacock that happened to attract more customers into their farm. The hens complained they were doing all the hard work. This book teaches a valuable lesson fortified by my experience with Typhoon Haiyan. This book advocates the value of contentment.
Apparently, contentment is lackluster in the society. We are always hungry for more. We crave for something far beyond our capacities. We downgrade our tangible and intangible possessions time and again. We have become polished megalomaniacs. Unpleasantly, we are involuntarily oblivious of these monsters as they consume every fiber of our rationale and reason.
I remember my erstwhile neighbor. She had no job. She had four kids to send to school. Her husband was a ‘moderate’ drunkard and had no permanent work. They survive by means of her husband’s siblings and parents. Yet every town fiesta, they always made sure that the pig’s death was never in vein. Their modest residence was always jampacked with guests and relatives. The prying eyes of neighbors mean that for another year, they made a successful fiesta celebration through money owing. The debt cycle never ended for them, because they never were pleased of a simple celebration, or a smaller and more meaningful family gathering. The debt cycle is my term for sustainable money owing, where a person pays his debts through debts. The debt cycle is common among run of the mill families and couples. If some fail to sustain the cycle, they fall into the debt abyss.
I know a very hardworking co-employee whom I met last year. I learned that she and her family migrated to Canada two months ago. She was actually my superior. She was part of the company’s roster of top business consultants. Her husband was also a co-employee with a higher position. Both of them earned gargantuan bonuses, salaries, benefits and perks. They had the positions everyone is aspiring to relish. Yet, out of the blue, they decided to quit their jobs and transfer to another country to look for bulkier revenue. No matter what angle I consider, I always find their decision quite hastened, unreasonable and insensible.
The two situations are on the ground of dissatisfaction. My neighbor elicited false grandeur. She was never satisfied despite her financial inadequacies. She felt more dignified of sham riches regardless of her dues. My former workmate, despite her more than enough income, was simply not fulfilled. She sought for more in the face of sufficiency. I firmly believe that her act is a covert insult to the poor. Anyone who squanders or undermines resources is insulting those who have none and anyone who is in greed is insulting those who are hungry.
In parallel to this, unsatisfied and discontented individuals are keeping happiness away from their doorsteps. No one will find peace of mind if no one is willing to appreciate what he or she has attained. No one will tell a story of a life well lived if no one is proud of simple hard-earned personal leaderships.
In the same light, this has got to be one of the premium lessons a Yolanda survivor has achieved. The things disregarded before are the things that we lost after the typhoon: shelter, clothing, food, friends, family, and life. These things that we lost are the things that should be valued more from then on, because the simplest possessions are the ones most painful to lose.
I’m glad I’ve realized the premium lesson of contentment as a juvenile. It took my neighbor’s way of life and my workmate’s attitude to understand it, and Haiyan’s wrath to fortify it. For others, I hope the nudge of Yolanda is enough to both understand and put to mind that contentment spells freedom, happiness and godliness. Again, I hear the bible: “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.” (1 Timothy 6:6-7)
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Palompon now back to normal, mayor said
PALOMPON,Leyte- After more than four months after this town was hit by supertyphoon Yolanda, the situation of this town is now back to normal.
Thus said Mayor Ramon Oñate who credited the assistance they received from different non-government organizations and foreign countries as reason why the town immediately returned to normalcy.
He said business operators in Palompon resumed their operations as power was immediately restored two after Yolanda hit their town.
The governments of Oman and South Africa led in the renovation of the two-storey Palompon District Hospital as they also donated medical equipment and generator sets.
Native of the town who are now living abroad also donated intended for the victims of the town, Oñate said.
He also revealed that a China-based foundation has expressed their intention to help his town; donate 300 pump boats for the fishermen and will repair the town’s public schools.
The town mayor also said that he provided P70, 000 cash assistance to all 50 barangays for them to restart their livelihood.
Also he asked lending operators in the town to bankroll livelihood program for the more than 1,000 farmers and fishermen of the town for up to P10,000 without any collateral. (LITO A. BAGUNAS)
Philippines gears up for World Peace Event
With less than a month before the most-anticipated world peace event, former senator and Vista Land chairman Manny Villar said all preparations are underway for another successful Guinness World Record setting event on April 14 at Savannah City, Iloilo, where the largest flaming image using candles will be featured.
The “Light of Peace in the Philippines (LOP) 2014” event aims to raise awareness and celebrate “World Peace through Inner Peace” by gathering at least 100,000 people from different sectors of society who will meditate together for individual inner peace.
The meditation will be followed by lighting of candles to form the world’s largest flaming image using candles, an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record. The image that will be created will show the Philippine map, the Light of Peace logo and motto, “World Peace through Inner Peace”.
“Let us show our genuine will to promote world peace by cultivating in ourselves inner peace. I believe that it’s not impossible to achieve world peace. With each of us being a light of peace, amidst our religious differences, we will be able to unite and attain world peace,” said Villar.
He cited last year’s “Inaugural Light of Peace” in Miag-ao, Iloilo, which gathered various religious leaders – Buddhists, Muslims and Christians, among others – and participants from all walks of life to call for world peace.
Villar, who is representing Villar SIPAG (Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance), one of the major organizers of the LOP 2014 event added, “Peace is good for the economy. If we have peace, we won’t scare our investors; we will be able to encourage more investors to have business in our country, which will drive progress. ”
The other core organizers of the event include Thailand-based The Middle Way Meditation Institute (MMI) headed by its director venerable Burin Thitakusalo Bhikkhu, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro represented by Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. of the provincial government of Iloilo, Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog Iloilo City, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Department of Education (DepED). (PR)
Leyte town receives P19 million for cash-for-work implementation
TACLOBAN CITY- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has released P19 million to the municipality of San Isidro in Leyte for the implementation of cash-for-work program.
This was revealed by San Isidro municipal administrator Levi Mabini who said that the program would benefit 5,300 people coming from the town’s 19 barangays.
The program started on March 17 and is to end on March 31 of this year. Those who will avail the program stand to receive P260 for a day’s work which would consist of clearing and cleaning operations.
The implementation of the cash-for-work program on their town was welcomed by its mayor, Susan Ang, as this would help the people still reeling from the aftermath of Yolanda, Mabini said.
Mabini said that their town continues to receive assistance from different organizations the latest of which was the Lion’s Club International.
The group donated water containers as the group also promised to donate housing units to all affected families who lost their houses, he added.
Meantime, town Councilor Rosalina Fajardo, chairman of the committee on social services, said that the municipal council passed a resolution addressed to various international organizations seeking assistance to help them rebuild houses for families.
It was learned from Fajardo that the Antonio Ang & Sons Foundation promised to donate one hectare of lot intended for the housing site for the Yolanda victims. (LITO A. BAGUNAS)
Painting keeps Tacloban artist Dante Enage alive after Yolanda
Art keeps him alive.
Known visual and tuba (coconut wine) artist Dante Enage of Tacloban City keeps his passion close to his heart after supertyphoon Yolanda pounded his entire neighborhood in barangay San Jose November 8 last year, wiping out also his material possessions to include his masterpieces he have had for years in his rented room.
“It’s back to basic, back to zero now. But I am starting to pick up the pieces again,” Enage said, adding that as months went by he has to continue doing what he loves to do—painting–not only to support his family but also as “a tribute to friends and neighbors who died during the typhoon.”
Enage said that after he managed to take a ride on the Philippine Navy boat going to Cebu together with his family to escape from the city’s devastation and stench of death few days after Yolanda, he then returned to the city to continue his craft.
“I went back to sketch pad and ball pen after Yolanda wiped out my art materials. Those were the things I could afford during those days,” he said.
“I have to paint to heal myself, too. I want to do something; I don’t want to get stuck.I have to paint again. There are just so many stories to tell after Yolanda. I want to pour out what goes inside of me; the experiences; the pain. Namatayan man ak usa ka sangkay (I have one dear friend who died),” the 42-year old painter added.
His friend, tattoo artist and Kadangyan bassist Agit Sustento, together with his wife and other family members, perished when Yolanda hit the city. His 3-year old son Tarin is still missing.
In the city, Enage spends his time going around his neighborhood doing sketches and painting as a way of recording the stories of the survivors, visualizing on how survivors felt when they saw their friends drowning and how they looked at the debris and destruction around them.
He expressed thanks to the many people who helped rebuild his city and those who supported local artists by buying their works.
Asked on what is there to hope for in the future, Enage said he wants that art and artists in the city will continue to flourish in spite of the tragedy.
For this he is looking forward to organize art workshops and join exhibits.
Last February 18 to March 14, Enage joined his fellow artists from Kasikasi Art Association of Tacloban to stage “PITAD: Art after Yolanda” at Adamson University.
“I’m excited to see my gallery again. I hope I can rebuild it soon,” Enage added, this as he started on the reconstruction of his own modest gallery in his rented home.
While doing this, Enage says he also inspired to do more now.
Enage specialized on the use of mixed media, coffee or tuba in his artworks.
He was one of the eight Filipino artists who represented the country during 2013 Art Expo Malaysia (AEM) in Kuala Lumpur. Also he was once a first place winner of the country’s prestigious Philippine Visual Arts Festival. (RONALD O.REYES)